"I feel more relaxed as a captain as the team management reposed full confidence in me. I can now fully concentrate on my job," Malik said.

He said it was always good to see encouragement coming from the top. "It is always good to hear words of encouragement coming from the top. I definitely feel more relaxed and powerful as captain," he said.

The national team management in a recent meeting with the Pakistan captain promised to extend full support and cooperation to him in an effort to maintain discipline and get the best out of the player on the field, The News reported.

It has been learnt from well-placed sources in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) that Shoaib may continue to lead the national team even after the expiry of his tenure that ends on December 31.

There are good chances that Shoaib Malik would continue as a captain of the national team even after the expiry of his tenure. With Indian tour just around the corner, the PCB and Governing Board members are unlikely to take any risk of naming new captain.

"Since there is no other international engagement between the Abu Dhabi and the Indian series at home, the new captain would always find it difficult to adjust. Putting a new captain straightaway in a tough series and that too against India would not be an easy decision," a PCB official who reached Islamabad on Thursday said.

He said that Shoaib Mlaik's leadership period might even get extended to the second twenty20 World Cup to be held in England in the summer of 2009.